Video: Broadway's Best Dancers Gather on the Red Carpet at the 2023 Chita Rivera Awards

Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World

The excitement is building. We're on the red carpet for the Cheetah Rivera Awards

to catch up with many of this year's nominees. The two of you together, how excited are the two of you to be here together

I feel so much better the minute she walked in room. Well, I'm the reason for it, you know

And, well, I just look at John and I'm, you know, you know

Because without John, I wouldn't be here. You know, so... So we're just happy

We're happy to... After all this, we're going to go have a couple of drinks

That's very likely, yes. What are some of the special things happening here tonight

Oh, there are some surprises. We do have the dancers from a dancer's life

that are reuniting for the first time to surprise Cheetah, which will be great. And we're also announcing the formation of a Cheetah

Rivera training programs. That'll be first time ever announced tonight on stage. You're getting the scoop

Tell me what that means to you. The fact that we can nurture young talent that we are going to do a

national search for the most talented young dancer, singer, actors, and bring them to New York

to give them more training and more mentoring and financially invest in the futures of some of them

how can you even speak to that It an amazing opportunity Well I just so happy to see choreography being celebrated and you know deservedly as well and all different aspects in theater and movies and film and everywhere So always happy to support

Oh, my goodness. I'm just to see this man. I'm here. I'm here with my guy right here. It's like my brother from another

I'm just so glad and so honored to be a part of an event that honors and shows love to dancers

You know, he's sweating right now because you know, you know, no, you know he was practicing for three hours to have dancing somewhere

Because that's what he does. You know, when we all go home, he's rehearsing. He's rehearsing

Well, I mean, he's already been here. He was part of the, he won the Asera Award in, what, 2000

Yeah, back then, yeah. Now it's Cheetah Repair Awards. No, I understand

But, no, it's so wonderful to just have dance recognize a way of storytelling in a Broadway show

It was like the beginning for us, you know. So that's the one thing that we always talk about a lot is like, you know

we all have these aspirations to do, like, you know, grand roles and to sing more

have great parts. But to be honest, the core, the core, the real, the beginning

and the thing that we'll never shed is the dancer in us. So this is really important. The first love

We're celebrating dancers, and we're celebrating dance. And so often dancers are really at the bottom of the food chain

Well, they are at the bottom of the food chain in theater and all of the performing arts

And this is a day when dancers are celebrated. It's all about them and the choreographers and all

All dance filmed dance now as well as dance on the stage and it really gratifying Well Cheetah such an iconic person in our community And to have these awards specifically you know for the dancers in the show and the dance performances

You know, Norbert Leo Butts, I think, won a couple of these that I choreographed him in

And now, what about that? It's such a full circle moment for you

Like you said, you were doing the act, Eliza Menelli. across the hallway. You auditioned for Bob Fawson. You ran back to the other side

but you got to work with Bob on the original production of dancing, worked in that

and now you brought it back to Broadway again for a whole new audience. That fell in love with this show

that got to see it. So what that means to was a full circle moment. That was the reason to do this, to bring Bob alive, bring him back on Broadway where he belonged

in a different way. I mean, dancing was like very different. This was a little bit more

intimate, and if you really search, you can find that man. And that was the object

I'm excited to you to be here tonight for the Cheetah Rivera Award. I'm so hype

I mean, I'm so excited to be celebrating dance on Broadway, dance in TV and film

I love dance. I love celebrating. It's a great night to be here. How excited to you to be here tonight

I'm so excited to be here. I'm so excited that all of our hard work has been seen

It makes me really, really happy. Tell me what tonight means to the three of you being here and, of course, the dancer's life

Well, we haven't been together for 17 years. So this is really a reunion for all of us and it our family It time to celebrate Cheetah It always time to celebrate Cheetah and we just so honored to be here for her It like the best home meal ever We nominated for New York to York How exciting is this

Amazing. Incredible. It's an honor. Yeah, I can't believe it. So thrilled

To be in a Stroh Show and be nominated? Hello! Called New York, New York in this city. It's the best

Can you imagine being in a Susan Stroman show, original cast, and dancing

to the music of Kandran Ep! Come on. How excited are all of you

So excited. We're just so grateful and happy. Yeah, it's truly an honor

This is the hardest working ensemble on Broadway, and I'm so proud of them every single night

It's just been such an exciting season. I'm proud to be in the number

Yes, we are unbelievably thrilled to be here. This was honestly, like, it was like

this was on my list of a dream to be awarded for this. Like, as a dancer, it's a dream

Truly, yeah. Yeah, it's just really, excited to be here with everybody. There's such a good energy around and it's just, it's going to be a

great night. I can't wait to see how it all goes out. Get ready. So much of how we came together as a

group was through our movement and the choreography in this show. So the fact that this is the award

that we're nominated for as a group feels really fitting. Yeah, truly such an honor to be

alongside so many talented people who have also been nominated tonight. It's wonderful

How excited are you for this nomination? I am so incredibly excited. I am thankful to be able to

live my dreams and to be able to share it with others. And I think that's the greatest thing that we

can learn from Chita Rivera is how you kick down doors and follow your passion and do it

with love and bring everyone with you